Bartok 3rd concerto - live performance

[fnork]

from a recent concert.

https://www.megaupload.com/?d=0XGAVOZI

[pianowolfi]

This is not just good, this is really great, in my book Much respect!

[rachfan]

Hi fnork,

This appears to be an M4A file, so I'm unable to open it.  Do you have it in MP3 format by chance? 

[retrouvailles]

This appears to be an M4A file, so I'm unable to open it.  Do you have it in MP3 format by chance? 

Download this program:

https://www.foobar2000.org/

It can open pretty much anything.

[rachfan]

Hi retro,

Well, I downloaded it and added it to the player list, but even foobar won't open an M4A. 

[db05]

Hi retro,

Well, I downloaded it and added it to the player list, but even foobar won't open an M4A. 

Have you tried quicktime?

[rachfan]

Hi db,

I once had an Apple version of quicktime running on Windows, and it drove me crazy, so I dumped it.  But I didn't realize that Apple now had these cross-platform versions, so on your recommendation I just downloaded it for Windows, and am listening to the concerto now.  Thanks!

[rachfan]

Hi fnork,

Bravo!  Your playing of the Bartok 3rd was absolutely splendid!  This is one of your best performances ever.  Excellent.  May you have a wonderful and long career ahead of you.

I recall reading years ago that this concerto, which is unlike the first two concerti, has an interesting history.  It seems that Bartok toward the end of his life was very ill.  Knowing that his time was quite limited, he wrote this Third Piano Concerto for his wife actually.  She was a very capable concert pianist, and he arranged for her to legally have exclusive performance rights to guarantee her an income once he had passed on.  So in a way this beautiful composition not only served concert goers very well, but was also a legacy to his artist widow as beneficiary.  It's both very interesting and touching. 

[goldentone]

A great performance, Fnork.   Probably the second or third time I've ever listened to Bartok, and this one is certainly palatable to my taste.  Furtwaengler recently posted a thread on this concerto, which made me interested to hear it.  So this was a welcome surprise.  I'm sure he'll be glad to see this.

[fnork]

rachfan, the story of the concerto is indeed quite lovely - it was actually a birthday present that he put under his wifes pillow on her birthday as a surprise, I've heard In addition, it's much easier than the previous two concertos which his wife, although a fine pianist, wasn't able to perform. It does have its awkward spots here and there (the doublenote runs  in the "night music" part of the 2nd movement, and the virtuosic ending of the last movement), but overall I found it very manageable. And it's a joy to play it with orchestra! It's so well orchestrated.

[anda]

Wonderful performance, I just wish you uploaded the whole work... I love the 1st movement, and I'd love to hear your version.

I didn't know it was a present for his wife - anyway, Bartok didn't have a chance to finish it. He died leaving just some sketches for the last movement, and one of his pupils (I don't remember the name...) finished the concerto based on the sketches. This explains why the last movement is so un-bartokian.

best luck, fnork, and many many more concertos like this

[fnork]

Thanks for the compliments. It's not true that there just were some "sketches" of the last movement. He did not finish the last 17 bars, but the rest is 100% Bartok. Even for the last 17 bars, there was some idea or sketch and his pupil only realized this idea.
I don't consider the last movement "un-bartokian" - just think of the very bartokian rhythms in the beginning...